Beattie hoping for England call

July 15, 2009

James Beattie is hoping that he can continue his form into next season and earn himself an England call up.

The Stoke City player has five caps for England but his last performance was back in 2003 but he is hopeful of making an impact next season that would see him given an international lifeline.

“It’s always in the back of your mind, but first and foremost I need to perform for Stoke City.

“If I can get that right, who knows. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.”

England’s next World Cup qualifier is against Croatia at Wembley on 9 September.

Beattie, along with the rest of the Potters squad, returned for pre-season training on Thursday, in readiness for the club’s tour of Austria.

The former Everton and Sheffield United forward added: “We do the hard work now to set us up for the season, and the rewards are there for all to see.

“We help each other through it, and everybody will be pulling in the right direction. If one of the lads is struggling a little bit, the other lads will pull them through and help them along.”

Beattie, a £3.5m acquisition from the Blades in January, scored seven goals in 16 matches to help Stoke finish 12th at the end of their first season in the Premier League.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.